I'm not saying this for any other reason, but just to remind you. I was sitting at home this week and I think I was watching football. And I it might have been, it could have been about the same time you're praying, watching a football game, you're praying with men in the church. And all the way in all Ann Arbor, Michigan, I just felt like a little voice text.

Hey Chief, this is why I call him, I call him Chief. Hey Chief, I just want to let you know how incredibly impactful you've been on my life.

That when I was a young communicator, long before I had kids over 20 years ago, I heard you preach the message. I heard you preach a message in a small church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. And I heard the grace of God preached in a way that I never heard before. I heard the love of God preached in a way I've never heard before. I heard about a Jesus in a way that I've never heard before. This is a guy who is a youth pastor. This is a guy who's been preaching at that time five years or so. And I heard a message that changed my life. So here's what I'm saying to you. Your pastor, your leader, the man, the man standing in the gap, if you will, your intercessor. I'm telling you what, like he is anointed and blessed of God, and he has been for generations. And I want you to know I stand on the stage because of him. So here's what I tell people now I don't want to be known as a great communicator.

I want to be known as a grace communicator. The uh I didn't come up with this.

A different head football coach did. And he was telling his football players, he said, Hey, this is how you have joy. This is a head football coach telling a bunch of Division I athletes, this is how you have joy. This is the order, don't mess it up. This is joy. Jesus, others, and you. Jesus, others, and yourself. That's how you have joy. You want to know people who have true joy? They have Jesus in the right, Jesus first. And then others. I'm gonna live for Jesus, I'm gonna serve others, and remember if serving is beneath you, then leadership is beyond you. I'm gonna serve others, and then I'm gonna work on myself. I'm gonna be a better version of myself. I'm gonna walk into a room and make people feel really good. They may never remember what you say, but they'll always remember how you made them feel. And so that's how you achieve true joy. People are trying to find it in a lot of different ways, but that's how you achieve true joy. And so I did this. This is how my brain works. I flipped it. Now you can't read joy backwards, it doesn't give you a word. It's not a word backwards. But I did find a couple letters in joy that make the most sense. So what I did is like, instead of the word joy, you know how when you ruin joy, it becomes Y-O-U? It's you first. You worried about you, you taking care of you, you living your selfish life. Then it's about you, you comparing yourself with others, not serving others, it becomes comparison and not serving. And you know what the you is? You is undecided. You don't have, you don't, you're not living for something bigger than yourself. You're not, you're the part you play is not, that which you're a part of is not bigger than the part you play. You're the captain of your own island. And so today, my hope, my hope is that you would find joy. My hope is that you would see Jesus. My hope is that you would begin serving others. My hope that you'd say, like, hey, I want to be better tomorrow than I am, I want to be better tomorrow than I am today, and I'm gonna work on myself. And really, that's what we're gonna share today because Paul's talking to this young man by the name of Timothy, and I'm gonna share you some things that Paul gave Timothy. In regards to this, our series that we're talking about increase. That we all need increase in our life, or all so desire increase in our lives. I just let me just do this again. I I feel like I've been a youth pastor for 30 years. It's like, look, look at my stage. Anyways, um, I am not a good preacher unless I have a prop. I mean, believable. So hey, let me just ask you a question. Does anyone have anything in front of them, like anything like pressing? Uh maybe maybe you have something stressful in your life, maybe you have maybe you have an exam coming up, or you have an interview coming up, or you have something in the future that, man, this is this is kind of like what I'm thinking of. If you didn't just just hold up your finger, just do this, just one finger, it's not a big deal. Just yeah, you got oh, yeah, everyone in there? Cool, cool, cool. All right, no money, no one else, everyone else is just perfect living stress free life. Come on, you got everyone, yeah. I'm gonna come talk to you because you're doing it well. I just hold that, hold that. No, that's weird. I know, I got it. You're holding your finger up, I get it, I get it. Now I want everyone to focus on their finger, focus on your finger, focus on the thing you have over the next few days. Focus, man, I still gotta do Christmas shopping. You know, my Amazon cart is full, but I've yet to pay for it because I'm waiting on the bonus, you know. So now you're focused on your finger. I want you to focus on, keep your finger up, but focus beyond your finger right now. Focus on something past your finger. Did your finger disappear? You can kind of see through your finger now, right? It's kind of weird. You're like you can actually see your finger becomes transparent, right? Here's what I want you to do for the next 25 minutes. I I know that's in front of you. I know that you have it, but you can literally look beyond that. Though it's not gonna disappear, literally, but you can look beyond it and stay focused in this moment and receive what God has for you. You see, a lot of times I'm like, I have these things in front of me, but God's wanting me to do something as well. And he says, I know that it's still there, you're still gonna have to go through the job revenue, you still have to buy Christmas presents, you still gotta get excited for the new year, all the things are gonna prep for the holidays coming up. But if you'll just focus on me for a few minutes, if you'll just lean into what I have for you. Have you ever asked God for increase? And then felt like he started taking things away? You prayed for a blessing and he brought brokenness. See, we think increase means addition, but in the kingdom, increase often begins with subtraction. Before God fills your life, he'll filter your life. I can do all things through Christ. One of the reasons why we're not accomplishing all things is because we're not running him through the filter of Christ. We're just eating coffee beans. God doesn't just want you to have more, he wants you to have more room. Before he pours out rain, he removes the rocks. Because if I try to pour this into this, this is you, this is God. And God says, Hey, I want to do something in your life. But man, there's there's all this time of doing things that really are not truly making a difference. There's there's these things in your life called sin that you have allowed to come in your life over the past few weeks and months and years that are still there that you've yet to give over to me. There's still some weights in your life that are not necessarily bad things, but they're holding you back from getting to your destination in the time that God wants you to get there. And so God says, I'll pour out, I'll pour out, but it's just gonna splash over. It's not gonna get in, and then whatever gets in is still not gonna be large enough to overcome what's already in your life. And so God says, Here, here's what I need you to do: I need you to remove these things. I need you to get down and to business and getting rid of the sin and the rocks in your life because God, here, let me say this. God forgives us of our sin, but we still have to stop sinning. We we we go down on our knees and we ask God to forgive us, and he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. But the reason why we still face it is because we didn't get in a group to confess our sins, because James, right, when we confess our sins one to another, that's where healing happens. Forgiveness happens here, healing happens here. And God says, I need to pour out, I want to pour out, but you've got too many things inside. And today is about getting rid of those things. It's asking God to forgive us, to remove those things, to get those things out of our lives. The problem isn't the poor, the problem is the capacity. God's not withholding your blessing. He's just waiting to have for you to have room for it. I'm gonna say this. I believe God's got blessing for all of us. I I I I didn't say this in first service, I didn't think of it until now, but I have in I have in my closet a bunch of Jordans, like tons of them, that I did not even buy. Like, because of where I get to work and serve, I get them all the time. Like I get so many shoes, I can't even wear them all. I'm just trying to make you jealous. Um, I do, and there's so many, and I and and I like the ones that are comfortable sometimes. Those Jordan ones are not as comfortable, you know, they're worth a lot of money, but they're not worthy wearing it. So I just keep them. And I'm doing it on purpose because I have a 14-year-old son who's here today. That he's he's slowly getting to the place where he can wear a 10 and a half or 11, right? And what he doesn't know, that I have a closet full of blessing for him. That I'm just waiting for him to get mature enough. I'm waiting for him to grow enough. And then one day he's gonna go to this closet of blessing, and he's gonna have to fly his shoes in all of high school. See, God's got blessing for you, but he's waiting for you to mature and get old enough. It's there, it's waiting, but I've got God cannot bless where he doesn't have access in your life, and so he has to have access. I've got to make a way for him. Psalm 65 and 10. This is our theme scripture. You drenched the plowed ground with rain, melting the clods and leveling the ridges. You soften the earth with showers and bless its abundant crops. That's what God is doing in the season. He's softening the hard things, he's melting away the stuck things, and he's revealing what's buried. We come to church and we we hear we hear the word of God preached, and we think maybe I should change this, or maybe I should walk in a different way, or maybe I should lean into this opportunity in the church. And I want to say yes to that. Because if we're this speaking today, it says, like, man, I hope they hear this. I hope that's a good word. I hope that's a good word for somebody. If you're thinking that, it's for you, just so you know. It's for you. That impression that God gave you is not for somebody else, but it's for you, for you to receive. The same rain that brings blessing also brings exposure. So if you've been asking God, why are you shaking things up in me? Be maybe it's because he loves you too much to let the rocks remain. He's removing so he can release, he's pruning so he can produce. He's not punishing you, he's simply preparing you. So in 2 Timothy 2, if you'll stand with me, I want to read this scripture. It says this. You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. It's the apostle Paul speaking to Timothy. He says, You're my son, my son in Christ, you're my son in the Lord. And I ask you, do you have any sons in the Lord? Do you have anyone that you're mentoring, that you're raising up, that you're building, that you're helping find their pathway in the kingdom of God? He said, In the things you've heard me say in the presence of many witnesses, and trust to the reliable people who also be qualified to teach others. What he's saying is the purpose that I'm telling you, the purpose that I'm gonna go through these next steps with you, is so that this can be passed along. The reason why I need these rocks removed from my life and so God can pour in blessing. Because this in here will never help anybody. But if I empty all this out and God pours into me, then what's in me can actually have been a benefit to somebody else and the gospel he carried on to generation and generation. Because what happened is this is you. You're one of these links in this chain, but you weren't the first link, someone else was, and they invited you to church, and generation and generation and generation, someone's here because of someone else, and that's how the gospel is going to be carried out that you're a link in this from one group of people, from one generation to the next generation, and then there's all this over here. This is free church in five years, free church in ten years. And the only way this happens is through a link. The only way, Timothy, this is ever going to make a difference is I've got to be included in the process. This is all of us, all of us linking up, all of us connecting from one generation to the next, from one group to the next. And so, Timothy, this is how you do it. He says, endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs. Ah, to be a good soldier, I'm not getting involved in civilian affairs. Sounds like social media to me, Timothy. He wants to please his commanding officer. Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules. And then the hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. I believe God wants to increase us as a church, us as individuals, us as families. But for him to allow increase to happen in us, I first have to remove some things in my life. I have to make sure that my life, if I want my assignment, it has to deal with my alignment with God. And so I want to be aligned properly today. God, remove anything that shouldn't be. God, so I can receive everything that I need to have. So bow your heads with me, pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you. God, I thank you for our church. I thank you for this opportunity that we have to be able to come in your presence and have things exposed, not for negative reasons, but for positive ones, so you can pour into us a fresh anointing, a fresh calling, new dreams, new passions, God. All of our things we're supposed to accomplish in this life, God. So God help us to remove those things. Help us to be open to what you have for us. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. You can be seated. Paul writes to Timothy from a cold Rome in prison, chained and misunderstood, but absolutely clear in his mission. He gives Timothy three images that summarize what it takes to live a life of purpose. Timothy, your life of purpose is to share the gospel. And if you have these three mindsets, we will see it accomplished in this life and in the next. Three different mindsets, three different demands. He said, if you want a great life, then you have to be like the soldier. The soldier is one of sacrifice. You have to be like the athlete, the athlete is one of discipline, and you must be like the farmer. The farmer is one of patience. If you want to miss the mark totally, then be one helps do selfish, bring drama to every situation, and then live proud. I've never served as a soldier, really not much of an athlete. And the only thing I know about farming is that it's really, really difficult. The soldiers to live a life of sacrifice. Paul says, endure hardship like a good soldier. Soldiers don't run from difficulty, they run toward the mission. They operate with clarity. No one is soldier meddles in civilian affairs. They don't get involved with that. And Navy SEAL training they have in the courtyard or where they're training for this elite group. Is that there's a bell, and that you can go ring this bell if the training gets too difficult, if a task is too tough, then you go out and you ring the bell, no questions asked, you walk out and you go live that civilian life. One man who completed the training, he said this the bell isn't a sign that the training was too hard, it's a sign that the mission meant too little, that they lost sight of the mission, they lost sight of the greater good, and because they lost sight of it, they chose to ring the bell. And I'm telling you, we're not in this to ring the bell. We're not ringing the bell because when you understand the gratitude or the the the just the expanse of the mission, then the sacrifice becomes so small. Greatness requires you to ignore the bell, to ignore the noise, ignore the distraction. If the mission matters, the sacrifice makes sense. The life of the athlete, he says, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the crown unless he competes according to the rules. I've never been much of an athlete. I've never stepped on a D1 field and played a game of baseball or the game of football. I did play little league stuff, some pee-wee football, some basic baseball. It seemed like when you're playing neighborhood baseball and you're playing with the rec league in your community, that the jersey you would get, you would get white pants and a white shirt. And my whole goal in playing football or baseball was to get the jersey dirty. Because there would be days that I'd go into my game to play baseball, and I'd come home and just hang up the jersey. Because I never got in the game. I just sat the bench. But anytime I didn't have an opportunity to get in the game, I'm sliding in the first base. I'm diving in the outfield for balls that don't need me diving for. Rolling around on the football field just trying to get my jersey dirty. I want people to know that I got in the game. You see, the discipline of the athletes is that my whole purpose is to get in the game. I just don't want a jersey on with my name on the back, saying I belong. No, I want to I want my name on my jersey on the back and I want to get in the game. Let's go. I want to get this thing dirty. I want to make a play. Last night, man, yesterday. What a game. Like a walk-off home run. I don't know if you know what the game was yesterday, but if you want to know if I'm prayed up, I'm definitely prayed up after yesterday. Anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the crown unless he competes according to the rules. The rules, Paul would be speaking about Olympian athletes. And the rules for Olympian athletes is that for 10 months prior to them stepping into the Coliseum, is that they had to train. They had to train for 10 months. That was the rule. They had to be disciplined for 10 months in order to be recognized in one moment. They had to do the necessary things each and every day so that they could accomplish a task in the arena of among the thousands of people. You saying bolt train for four years for 9.58 seconds. Most people want bolt speed but not bolt schedule. Nine seconds of glory costs him 10,000 hours of discipline. What disciplines do I need to reinstate in my life? How's my prayer life? How's my devotion time and the word of God? What am I doing to make sure that the chain is not broken and that my link on the chain is adding to another link on the chain and adding to another link of the chain? Where's my discipline making sure I'm following the mission of God? And then finally, the farmer is a life of patience. The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive the share of crops. Farmers understand the law of the harvest, they understand what's going on during the time, but also farmers know. They know how to wait. But while farmers are waiting, they're actually working. Farmers will be out there tilling the ground and removing the rocks. I got to remove the rocks from the field of blessing because I don't want it to choke out my harvest. Before the seed ever will grow, I gotta make sure that I'm removing the things that don't belong in this life. I'm removing the relationships that end up tearing me down instead of building me up. I'm stepping away from the situations that cause me more harm than help. I'm turning off the social media, not just for a moment in time, but for all time because I'm tired of the way it makes me feel and how it makes me compare. I don't need to be on it anymore, I'm done with it. I'm stopped leaning into these different ideas and also, you know what? I'm gonna stop living a life of fear and anxiety. For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind. We're we lean more into the negative things of outcome than we do the positive outcome. I tell people all the time, it can happen negatively, it can happen positively. Let's focus on that. Man, you receiving it today? A farmer plants seed, he cannot see. He wakes up early, tills the soil, he fights weeds, he trusts time. You can't rush a harvest. Patience is not passive. Patience is I'm waiting, but while I'm waiting, I'm still working. While I'm waiting, I'm making sure I care so much about this harvest. There's no there's nothing I'm you can't take care of a harvest watching it from the porch. I hope that rock doesn't hurt my harvest. No, no, no. I gotta take care of the harvest by getting down on my knees, making sure there's no rocks. I here's what I need. I need some dads. I need some dads to go inside your most protected place in your home. I need you to look in that home and make sure there's no rocks that'll crush the harvest call of your family. I gotta get rid of this stuff. As a leader of my home, I don't want to impair my children in any way. We're back there on the porch. Well, I hope that rock doesn't hurt the hurt that corn coming up, and God says, it will. Why don't you get off the porch and go pull that rock out? Hard working, it's not easy. The removal of what will hinder my harvest and my growth is not easy, but pain breaks pride, pain reveals truth, pain removes what you didn't even know was holding you back. I say, Oh man, God is doing something. I see that rock, and what am I gonna do? I need to remove it. Listen to me, teenager, listen to me, 20-something, listen to me. You've got to remove it. Listen to me, husband. Your screen lock picture is the greatest fight against the adversary in your marriage. If it's your favorite sports team, you're doing it wrong. Yeah, I know you love your dog, but you're doing it wrong. Let it be your spouse, let it be that family picture. Because I'm telling you what, there's gonna be a rock, and if I see that family picture, no, that rock's gotta go. There's people got their phones out right now. Oh, gee, I'm changing it. I repent of my sins, Jesus. Some of you got Justin Fields on your screen lock. Need to be JJ McCarthy. No, come on. When God wants to elevate you, he first wants to empty you. Joseph didn't discover his purpose in the palace, he discovered in the prison. David's anointing wasn't proven on a platform, it was proven in a cave. Paul didn't write his greatest letters from comfort, he wrote them from chains. The harvest is hard, but the harvest is worth it. The training, the training seems hard when we lose sight of the mission, but the mission is worth it. I'll never receive a crown if I first don't have a cross. Scripture reminds us for our light and momentary troubles. Is that scripture up there?

Do we have that? I don't know if I sent it. There we go. Are what for us achieving?

They're in our benefit, they're working for us, they're helping us for us an eternal glory that outweighs them all. I don't have this in my notes, I'm trying to remember it, but like the discipline is so imperative to us. That discipline today weighs ounces, but the regret of our of the regret weighs tons. And so I want to be disciplined in what I do so I don't regret what I do. I want to be disciplined in what I'm going after and the things I'm going for. Because God measures pain by what it produces, not by what it costs. And so I'm in there, I'm looking at, I'm looking at this beautiful field that God has given me, whether it's the whether it's where I work, whether it's where where I play, whether it's where I live, all the areas of my life, and God has given me this field, and this field is my responsibility to plow. This field's my responsibility to take care of. God's gonna send the rain, and when he sends the rain, it's gonna reveal the rocks. When he sends the rain, it's gonna reveal the clods, the clods of the hard clay, just like rocks that I need to be removed. The clods of the hard clay that once was dirt, but somehow got got clogged up, you know, it got became clay, and so you gotta get rid of that too. I love that. That once was a part of the field, now is hurting the field. You say what once was a part of your life, if it's hurting your life, God says, I need you to remove that too. I need you to get rid of that because that's what the rain begins immediately. And that's why I'm seeing those things. And every season of my life, I'm seeing those things. Whether it's the icy seasons, the winter times, farmer knows that this frozen time of my life, this frozen season is not going to last. And because it's not going to last, doesn't mean I'm gonna stop or just gonna stay stagnant. I'm still gonna be busy, still gonna be working, still gonna be doing what I need to do. Because even in the icy season, you'll see farmers out on the field. Even when there's no crops growing, they understand they haven't even planted seed yet, but then the icy season, the ground begins to freeze and begins to push rocks up to the surface. And so even when their season is not harvest time, they're still going to the field, grabbing some rocks, looking at it every day. And sometimes we only look at our field, our life, every Sunday. But God says, I need you to look at that every day. Come on, get on your knees today, look in the Word of God today, find some place of devotion today, and when you do, rocks will be revealed. I need to get rid of those things. Then the rain will come. And sometimes the rain comes before I even have planted a seed. But that rain that God sends, the rain is to wash away the things that I do see so He can reveal the things I don't. I gotta remove it before the planting season becomes because I'm gonna the planting season's coming. And the planting season is a time where I'm gonna take what God has blessed me with and I'm gonna sow it because then there's gonna be a harvest, a harvest of blessing, a harvest of plenty. But I've got to take all these different times and I've got to be in it. I've got to be removing the things that would block out the harvest. The plowing begins to happen after the rain comes. Now I'm gonna go out and plow this ground, this ground that is now moist, this ground that's now been saturated from heaven, and now I'm going to go back and I'm going to plow. Breaking new ground, getting back out there. No seeds have been planted, none of that's been done yet, but I'm still working. You understand what I'm saying? I'm still going after it, I'm still putting in the time because eventually there's going to be a blessing, there's going to be a harvest, but I have to do what I can do, and then God will do only He can. Hosea 10 and 12 says, Break up your fallow ground, for it's time to seek the Lord till he comes, reigns righteousness on you. Gotta break it up. The Bible says you drenched the plowed ground with rain, melting the clods and leveling the ridges. The proud plowed ground. Not hard. Fallow ground. If you refuse to plow, and then when the rain that God sends comes, it will just wash away. It'll just fall to the side. And God is calling us. Proud ground invites God's rain. Hard ground repels it. Which ground will you be? When God sends the rain, what's gonna happen? How is it going to take place? And so what I need to do in my life is I need to repent. How do I do that? I repent of what I've done, things I've said. Do you know how often I repent? Every day. Every day. Why? Because I'm human. I repent for things I didn't even know I did. But it's a true story. Me and God got a relationship like me and my wife. I'm sorry. But that's how it is. Because my relationship with God is God, I'm human and I'm flawed and I make mistakes. I'm sorry for having that thought. I'm sorry for saying that those words. I'm sorry for walking in those ways. I'm sorry for doing that. I repent, God, because I've got a harvest coming and I'm tilling this ground each and every day because God is going to send a blessing. He's gonna send it. He's got it for you, He's got increase for you. But I have to prepare the soil. Preparation happens before transformation takes place. We're here today because 120 people stuck it out. They stayed with it. 500 people saw Jesus ascend to heaven. And before he left, he said, I want you to stay. Tarry here, and I'm gonna send you the comforter. 75% failed. 75% said, You know what? I'm out. 120 says, No, we're staying, we're leaning into this. We know a blessing and a harvest is coming, we know something miraculous is coming, and so we're going to stay. We're gonna be like the good soldier and not involve ourselves with civilian affairs. We're gonna be like the athlete and be extremely disciplined, and we're gonna be like the farmer, understanding that God will send a blessing, but he's waiting on me to work, he's waiting on me to tarry, he's waiting on me to remove some things in my life that's gotta be removed. And so I'm preparing, I'm preparing. What do I need to do, Lord? What rocks might be hindering my harvest? Let me just speak to you and I need you to be ready to surrender. What relationship do you need to end right now? What secret relationship do you need to end right now? What's the thing in your life that you only you know that you need to stop doing? What adjustments do you need to make? And what you look at on the internet to truly fulfill your life, you got some unforgiveness in your heart. Man, how are you treating your spouses? Because if I don't honor my wife, the Bible says that my prayers are not heard by God. So I can love God with all my heart, and He wants to pour out a window of blessing for me. But if I treat her bad, that window is never opening up. God forgive me of how you treated a wife. What grudges are you holding? Because I'll tell you this you're not holding a grudge, that grudge is holding you. And you're gonna come across this.

Come here, Matthew.

I'm not gonna make Pastor Chuck jump over here. Come on. Young people want you to look at me, church. Look at me. These young people, I want you to look at me, right? Look at us up here. I'm gonna be in my life. And Pastor Chuck is this for me. I've literally said, I've literally called him on the phone. I've called him on the phone when leaders of our world have made mistakes. And I've said past, I said, Pastor Chuck, oh when I call him Pastor Chuck, he knows, all right, Robbie's about to talk real serious to me.

Because it's chief, and there's Pastor Chuck, and they're like, Alright, I gotta be that guy in his life now. I said, Hey, is there anything in my life that shouldn't be?

I said, if you see it before I do, please tell me because I don't know why, but this and this, I can't even smell this, and it's like a half inch from my nose. And there's some things in your life that you don't even see. You don't smell, you don't, you don't have that, you don't do it. But we're gonna be out in the field. Come and get in the field with me. Get down. We're in the field. And and the reason why I called you over here is because in my field there's something really big that I can't get rid of it without your help. I can't I can't do that on my own. I need you. Are you good? Can you help me with that? Are you mad that that's in my field?

Are you surprised that's in my field?

Are you glad I asked you to help me get it out?

Thank you.

See, so many of you are living with things so big in your life that you're like, I just can't get rid of it. And the reason why? If you've not pulled someone alongside you and said, hey, will you help me?

I can't get over this addiction. I can't get over this issue, I can't.

The Bible says, if I confess my sins, he's faithful and just to forgive me of my sins. What Jesus, the brother, James, the brother of Jesus, said, if you confess one to another, and you'll be healed. Healing's not happening in your life is because no one knows what you're going through. And God just wants you whole. And maybe today there's a lot of forgiveness that we need to ask for. There's some repenting that we need to do. Repenting is turning away from sin, but more importantly, it's turning to Jesus. Maybe you're here today and Pastor, I'm I'm good, actually. You woke up this morning and repented. Maybe you just don't have anything. I want you to know that God wants you to have a fresh anointing. He wants you to have a fresh experience, a fresh calling. Because some are living on stale. You got saved five years ago, and you're still, that's all you've ever done. You've never taken another step in your relationship with God. You never allowed God to develop you and grow you or a God deposit new things in you. It was several years ago, and I'm closing several years ago. Me and my son Silas were in the basement, and he found one of his old remote control cars that had been down there for a while. And he said, Dad, can we play with it? I said, Absolutely. And so I turned it on and it wouldn't operate. So I opened up the back end of the car and where the batteries were, and I looked at it, and the batteries had been in there a long time, and they had they had eroded, and the acid from the batteries had gotten into the car and had destroyed the car, it no longer would operate, and no longer would go. All because we didn't put fresh batteries in it. What once powered it actually destroyed it because it wasn't fresh. That's why we have so many bitter Christians, so many bad Christians, is because they don't get a fresh anointing, they go and get a fresh touch from the throne of grace. You might say, I'm good, I'm great, and God's wanting to pour blessing out on you. And this is you, all filled up, and God says, I want to pour blessing in your life. But here's the thing: even though you're filled up with good things, God can't pour new things into you. I'm so filled up. God wants to do a new thing in you. So I pour myself out each and every day because I want a fresh anointing. I don't want stale anointing, I don't want stale passion, I don't want stale dreams, I want something that's fresh from the throne of grace. So today, I'm calling us to a time of repentance. God, I repent from not coming back and getting a fresh anointing. I repent from not coming back and being filled once again with your spirit. I repent from coming back and not going deep into your word and going deep into a relationship with you. I repent of that and also repent, God, of the things I've done wrong. God, the rocks in my life that I have been there for so long because I've not asked someone to help me remove them. God, the decisions that I've made that God are contrary to your word. Help me get on the right path so I can reach my destiny. So today, it's about the sacrifice of the soldier, the discipline of the athlete, and the patience of the farmer. God's got a harvest, God's got a storage of blessing for you. He's just waiting for all of us to get mature enough to receive it. All over this room, bow your heads with me. All over this room. Gentlemen, I'm gonna tell you the greatest way to repent. If you're a if you're a husband and maybe you've mistreated your wife or not honored her the way you should, you ask God for forgiveness right now, and I'm telling you what, just grab her by the hand. And I'm telling you what, that slight little gesture without words in this moment, words will happen later without words in this moment. I promise you, healing will begin to happen in your relationship. You just grab her by the hand. You're in this room today and you're asking God to forgive you, forgive me of my sins. You just have to ask, you just have to speak it. God, forgive me of my sins. God, help me get rid of these rocks in my life. God's gonna forgive you, but he's gonna challenge you to go out and do the necessary things, the disciplines to be able to remove the things in your life that shouldn't be. He's not gonna end the relationship, you have to do that, but he'll forgive you for the relationship that you've been in. He's not gonna stop you from sinning, but he's going to forgive you of sinning. You have to do the work to stop. He's faithful to forgive, but I have to put in the work to see his will fulfilled. All over this room, begin to pray, begin to talk to God, begin to speak your words. It doesn't take long, it's not much, it doesn't go far, but I God, I'm sorry. And I turn to you. I've got off mission for a little bit, God, but I'm back on. I thought about ringing the bell, but God knows I'm sticking with this. God, I've not been as disciplined as I should, but God, I'm gonna stay as a disciplined athlete. God, I know you have a harvest for me, so while I'm waiting for that harvest, I'm gonna be removing some things in life so you when you pour out a blessing, it waters those seeds to turn into the blessing that my home needs, that my life needs, that my coworker needs, that this world needs. With every head bowed, every eye closed, no one looking around. If you've never given your life to Christ, if you've never said yes to Jesus, I want to give you an opportunity to say yes to him today. Whatever that looks like for you, I want to say yes to Jesus. Maybe it's been the first time, or maybe the first time in a long time. I've repented of my sins. I've forgiven, I've walked away, I've turned my life around. If that's you today, you want to ask Jesus into your life, when I count the three, just raise your hand. One, two, three. Hands up, hands up. You're included in this final prayer. Thank you for the hand, sir. Thank you for the hand, ma'am. Thank you so much. Thank you, sir, thank you, thank you. With every head bowed, every eye closed, no one looking around. I want you to pray this prayer with me. Everyone in the room, say it out loud. Heavenly Father, I realize today that I'm a sinner and I need a Savior. Jesus, forgive me of my sins. Jesus, I repent of my sins and I turn to you. Today, I confess with my mouth and I believe in my heart that Jesus Christ is Lord and God raised him from the dead. Today, I say yes to Jesus Christ in Jesus' name.

Amen.

How many are ready for increase in their life? Come on, clap your hands and let us take the Lord together.